Page 33 of To Tame the Wild Rake
The duchess shook her head, her eyes wide and innocent. “Of course not, dearest boy. But it wouldn’t hurt to look the field over, you know. Fisherham also has several sisters, and there is an unwed cousin or two. Such a clever family, too. I know you need intelligence as well as beauty and breeding in your bride.”
“No, Mama.”
“And a baptism! Such an innocent sort of an event, I always think. Everyone would be so pleased to have you, dear. Your presence always adds lustre to every family occasion.”
Aldridge just barely refrained from gritting his teeth. “Thank you, Mama, but the answer is still no. Do you take Jessica?”
The duchess made amoue, but did not press the matter further. “No, dear. I am leaving her with Cousin Evangeline as chaperone. Jessica has arranged to have some of her friends to stay. A ladies’ night in, she said.”
Evangeline Grenford was a spinster from one of the outer branches of the family tree. Old enough to be responsible and young enough to enjoy the evening with Jessica’s friends. Aldridge would make a note to keep out of the family wing that night.
Mama was not one to give up. “Aldridge, my dear boy, I would be failing you if I did not point out that your task as duke will be greatly lightened with the right wife. Do think about it, dear.”
“I have hopes, Mama,” Aldridge confided. “Lady Charlotte and I are becoming friends again.”
He thought Mama would be pleased. Charlotte was her goddaughter, the daughter of one of her oldest friends, a close friend of Aldridge’s half-sisters. She was well-born, too: granddaughter to a duke and niece to his heir. And she was as passionate about education as Mama was.
Instead, the duchess’s face froze, and she veiled her eyes with her lashes before pasting on a smile. “I am glad you are becoming friends, Aldridge. Charlotte is a sweet girl. But she has sworn not to marry, dear.”
“I think Sarah’s change of circumstances may be changing her mind,” Aldridge explained.
Mama frowned. “Yes. I can see that it might. Perhaps I should have a word with her, Aldridge.”
“No matchmaking, Mama,” he warned.
“Of course, Aldridge. How can you doubt it? In fact, if you wish, I give you my word that I shall do nothing to promote a marriage between you and Charlotte Winderfield.” She beamed at him, a guileless look that he recognised of old. His father had always taken it at its face value. Aldridge wondered what she was really up to. Planning to ambush him and Charlotte both with wedding plans, perhaps.
“If you are to reach Oxford today, you had better be on the road, dearest,” he said. She would bear watching, but at least he had a few days before she would be back in London to interfere with his courtship.
It was absurdly easy for Charlotte to carve out a night for herself. She was the only family member in residence, which meant no one to ask awkward questions. Mama had left for Leicestershire to attend Ruth in her confinement. The married couples of Charlotte’s generation, Sarah and Nate, Jamie and Sophia, had taken townhouses for the Season.
Rosemary was visiting Aunt Georgie and her companion in the country. A legacy from an aunt had made it possible for Charlotte’s aunt to defy her father’s plans for a dynastic marriage and set up house with another woman. It was an open secret in the family that Georgie and Letty were more than friends, and the pair of them always had a warm welcome for any female of the family.
Some event was on at Eton, so Uncle James and Drew were staying in Windsor overnight to show their support for Barnabas and Thomas, Uncle James’s two youngest sons.
Charlotte admitted no one in her confidence. Not her maid, who packed a small overnight bag at her direction. Not the coachman and guard who conveyed her to Haverford House, to visit her friend Jessica.
Jessica had invited several friends to stay the night under the chaperonage of a cousin of Aldridge’s, Aunt Eleanor being away. Charlotte didn’t plan to stay overnight. She had sworn Jessica to secrecy, saying only that she had another obligation, but would come to her in the late afternoon and would leave before the other guests were expected.
Jessica was pleased to have her. “I need to talk to somebody, Charlotte, and you are so sensible.” Jessica might withdraw that opinion if she could see what Charlotte intended to do after their meeting. If she had courage enough.
Perhaps Aldridge wouldn’t be alone. She kept remembering him half naked before that enormous bed with Lady Thirby and her friend. A dozen times on the carriage journey from the Winshire mansion to Haverford House, she made up her mind to give the coachman orders to return for her in two hours, which was what she intended to tell Jessica she had done.
And a dozen times, she determined to go ahead with her plan. When they arrived, she allowed her guard to escort her to the door. When it opened, she sent him away with the coach.
She kept her cloak on, her bag concealed underneath them, saying to the butler, “The halls are beautiful, but cold at this time of year. Besides, if I keep my cloak and bonnet with me, I need not disturb the household when I leave.”
“It is always a pleasure to serve you, my lady,” he assured her, as he conducted her up to the floor where Jessica had her rooms.Put the rest of the evening out of your mind and focus on your friend, Charlotte instructed herself.
Refreshments had been set in Jessica’s pretty sitting room. Over tea and cake, they kept the conversation light, sharing news about their families and commenting on others that they both knew. Jessica seemed to have as little appetite as Charlotte. Was Charlotte meant to ask what the problem was? She always had trouble deciding the best thing to do in intimate settings, perhaps because she and Sarah understood one another so well that she had never had to learn the rules of private interaction.
Before she could make up her mind to speak, Jessica took the initiative. “Colyton has asked to marry me,” she blurted.
“Do you wish to marry Colyton?” Charlotte asked, cautiously.
Jessica’s reply was equally cautious. “He is pleasant company. I would be a countess, and I would immediately be a mother. His daughters are very sweet.”
Not a declaration of whole-hearted commitment. “What does Aunt Eleanor say?”
